Raiders' Defense Not Leaning on Last Season's Success

The Las Vegas Raiders defense has set high goals for the upcoming season. They will have to put last season's success behind them to reach those goals.

Las Vegas Raiders Christian Wilkins, Malcom Koonce, Nesta Jade Silvera / Darrell Craig Harris, Sports Illustrated

The Las Vegas Raiders’ defense took a significant step in the right direction over the second half of last season.

While they had already improved from the previous season, there was still room for improvement. After the Raiders fired Josh McDaniels and promoted Coach Antonio Pierce, he and Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham guided the unit to heights a Raiders defensive unit had not seen in many years. 

The Raiders' defense ended last season as one of the top defenses in numerous statistical categories over the final nine games. Over that time frame, the defense often kept the team in close games, even winning a few, including the Raiders’ Christmas Day victory over the eventual Super Bowl Champion, Kansas City Chiefs. Still, Graham says he refuses to let the Raiders' defense let its guard down because of last season’s success. 

"So, first things first, last year, coming back, none of that matters at all, at all,” Graham said at training camp last week. “Again, the fact that we have familiarity with each other, there's a positive there. But in terms of how it's going to play out in the 2024 season, none of that stuff matters.”

Graham notes that the defense, filled with many veterans, already understands that last season’s results have no bearing on what will happen this upcoming season. Graham says the defense is ready to earn their respect on the field this season instead of looking back to last season’s success. He believes not moving past last season could have dire consequences for the unit.

“And the beauty of it is, they understand that,” Graham said. “I get the question, but they understand that everything that we accomplish this year, in 2024, is going to be earned, starting with what's going on that field right now and during training camp as we develop our fundamentals in terms of the run game and work on the communication because there are some new pieces. 

“But in terms of trying to look back and see how that's going to play into this year, if we do that – and they're not doing that – but if we did do that, that would be a recipe for disaster in my opinion."

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